DAY 79 - and two more!

Woohoo!  Now I know I probably shouldn't weigh myself everyday, but i feel like i have to right now to make sure that i am doing enough to lose weight or maintain and not gain.  It's also encouraging me right now...I lost another 2 pounds - that's 15 pounds total!

I'll be honest...I completely choked on my run yesterday.  i started my warm-up and it was just killing me!  It's almost like I hadn't exercised at all...ever!  i completely bailed at just under 1 mile and yes I am ashamed but i am also moving on.  In the attempt to find a kick a&% workout for non-running days, today on the line up is Brazilian Butt Lift...let's see what that one is like.  Hip Hop Abs was fun and great, but not enough.  I need something much more complicated and longer.  This will be a great addition here and there though...here's to having a Brazilian Butt!

~mel

DAY 77 - another pound!

I am stoked!  Yesterday I started my run thinking I wanted to try to run the full 30 minutes without stopping. I know this Jeff Galloway guy has trained for many marathons and suggests the run/walk ratio, but I keep stressing about being able to run the distance on long runs and especially the day of is I am only training to run for 2 minutes at a time.  I knew that running the full 30 minutes would mean actually running the full 2 miles plus a little.  After my .85 mile warm-up I quickly started to let Peattie into my head telling me that I couldn't do it - that it would be too hard.  Then I hit the 15 minute mark and I was a little over a mile and I said just do five minutes more...then I was at 20 minutes and I said you can do 5 minutes more just do it...then my friend Heather called and, yes, I answered the phone while running.  She offered to call me back but I knew this last 10 minutes were going to be the hardest so I needed a distraction - "keep talking" I told her.

I finished the 30 minutes and was a little over 2 miles!!!!!! No stopping, not even for stretching!  I am so excited!  What's better - I lost another pound!!  This is just what I needed to get inspired to keep going and work harder.

Today my plan is to do Hip Hop Abs and Insanity or P90X and then tonight a right before I settle down for the night do yoga....
~mel

DAY 76 - what? i didn't gain weight?

so for the past month or so i have had something every weekend, someplace to go, something to do.  this has put a stop, if you will to my losing weight.  i have not eaten horribly, but i have also chosen to not eat as well as i should.  so every weekend i gain a few pounds and then every week i am careful enough to lose those pounds just in time for the next weekend event.  but i am excited to say...that didn't happen this weekend!  i actually lost a pound instead of gaining or even maintaining! now i didn't do my long run again last week, which is making me a little nervous, but I am not going to let that dictate what i accomplish this week with exercise.  i did a hike with my brother and his family that was pretty good (at least for me!) in the cardio department so i am taking that as my long run.

i am super excited about this and pumped to get my exercise on this week because of it. since i may be gone on saturday again this week i have decided that i will run again this week on monday, wednesday and friday. i do know that in addition to my running i need to add some exercises for my knee.  i want to strengthen my knees in order to make sure they stay healthy and functioning properly (notice i didn't say "to prevent an injury" that's because I am working on saying what I do want as opposed to what I don't want...all part of The Secret).  i also need to add some things that really challenge me.  i dont have that sore feeling like i used to when i worked out with my trainer last year and i actually miss that.  i also dont sweat that much on the days that i am not running, so i need to do something about that too.

on a food note...i have to ELIMINATE SIMPLE CARBS from my diet.  I am a carbaholic! completely!  so i have decided that i need to practice eliminating any and all simple carbs from my diet.  now i know this is going to be extremely difficult, but i have to it is my leading food domino.  i say practice because i know that i am not going to be perfect and not eat anything thats a simple carbs and thats ok, but i want to eliminate it as much as possible unless and until i am no longer addicted to and crave them.

here's to an awesome week!!!

~mel

DAY 71 - kick it up; BAM!!!

I decided that I have to kick my exercise up.  I have been reading Ben's blog (from yesterdays video) from the beginning.  This guy was just under 360 and went from couch to 5k in 14 DAYS and in 40:13! That's less than 13.5 minute miles!!!  I have been running for 6 weeks now and I am just making it to 14.5 and it kicked my butt!  His was also straight running - I have been using a 2:1 run/walk plan to prevent injuries - that is it - IT IS ON!  I need to step this up into high gear!

Yesterday I finally added something else into my exercise other then running (I unfortunately had stopped and was only running in July).  I did some Zumba on the Wii.  I had planned on doing some more when I got home from a meeting last night but I ended up getting home too late.

So today, is my 2 mile run day.  I am going to attempt to run the entire first mile without stopping - I got this! I know I can do it.  Besides when it comes race time my buddies will have trained the entire time running straight, not doing a run/walk and I don't want to hold them back.

Food was a little better yesterday.  Coffee (of course) & mini bagel with peanut butter for breakfast; slices of turkey for lunch; popcorn for afternoon snack; chicken stir fry and jasmine rice (nope not brown rice yet) for dinner; carrots, celery & hummus for evening snack - the really bad part is that I had a bowl of honey nut cheerios after dinner because I was still hungry and I didn't even measure so I am sure that it was more than a serving.

I know I need to increase my veggies & decrease my carbs...

~Mel

DAY 70 - just do it...

So aside from being a slacker with posting on here and on my stampin blog, I have also been a slacker with my running/exercise and eating habits over the past few weeks.

I'm gonna be honest with you, for some reason July was extremely difficult in so many ways - mentally, emotionally, physically.  I was NOT motivated at all about anything.  I just wanted to sleep the month away and had gotten back into the mode of not wanting to do anything and feeling sorry for myself that my life isn't what I want it to be and blaming everyone and everything else but myself.  Who's to blame though? Me and only me.  I was not the change I wanted to see and I wasted an entire month because of it.  I could be further along in both my businesses, have better relationships with my immediate family, a few pounds lighter, further along with my marathon training, but I'm not...because I chose not to be.  I chose the easy path of just coasting by the month - what the HELL was I thinking???

So at the end of last week something happened, not one thing in particular, I actually don't know exactly what it was, but something switched in me and I have decided to choose happiness.  I have decide not to let things bother me and pull me down.  I have decided to accept things the way they are because I am the only thing that I can change and accepting things and moving on, looking at the bright side of things and choosing to be happy is much more fun and exhilarating than just coasting and moping around WISHING my life was different rather than MAKING my life different.  So, here's to a much more successful month!

I decided to switch my run days to Monday, Wednesday and Friday because I seem to keep missing Saturdays because I am always somewhere else.  So, yesterday was my 30 minute run and I have to admit I was procrastinating all day.  There were a ton of other things that I wanted to get done, but a friend of mine sent me the link to this video   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbXgQqbOoU&feature=share

What an inspiration Ben is!  And he is right, don't think you can't do it, just get up and DO IT!!!  I watched this video, shared it with my husband and then go my butt up and ran my 30 minutes.  I am excited to say that I ran a 15.5 minute mile average which is pretty good for me.  I am thinking I can push myself a little more next time.  I am happy that I got up and did it.  I am happy that I ran at a steady pace (I am still doing a 2 minute run/1 minute walk ratio as suggested by Disney's Official Training Consultant, Jeff Galloway).  I am happy that I finished without letting Peattie talk me out of doing the entire workout for a total of 3.10 miles, along with 2 minutes worth of planks and stretching.  I am happy that I got up this morning and I am ready for a cross training workout, not sure what yet, but I am ready for it!


Take care and remember...
Change doesn't come from the sky.  It comes from human action.
~The Dalai Lama
*hugs,
Mel

P.S. Don't be afraid to leave me comments below!  I would love your support in this challenging journey.  Just make sure to keep it positive please.  Thanks!